Plenty Of Dunks, Fun Times And A Red Team Victory

July 12, 1998|By HEATH A. SMITH Daily Press

HAMPTON — For those of you who weren't at the Hampton University Convocation Center Saturday evening at the Allen Iverson Celebrity Charity Basketball game, here's a time line of the important highlights.

Minutes before the game:

8:00 - Iverson sets things off with the first dunk of the evening. It would be the first of many on the night.

4:00 - The dunks get a little more serious in warmups and the crowd is buzzing in anticipation. Showtime is coming.

First quarter:

11:56 - Iverson scores first points of the game on a layup.

11:36 - Joe Smith brings in the funk with the first dunk of the game - a one-handed slama-jama.

11:25 - Tony Rutland, Iverson's Bethel High teammate, makes the first

three-pointer of the game.

If you want highlights from the rest of the game, too bad. You should have been there. Besides the only time that was important was the time Iverson showed up to the Convocation Center - ``ON TIME''.

Unlike Friday, Iverson had no problem making it to the charity basketball game, which raised money for Boys and Girls Clubs in the Hampton Roads area and the American Heart Association. Iverson gave those in attendance their full money's worth.

``I made sure I didn't ride in that car this time,'' Iverson joked after his Red Team beat the Blue Team 155-154.

Of the score didn't really matter. The people came to see Iverson & Co. get busy on the court and they did. Iverson's array of dunks, spin moves and passes excited the crowd, but he wasn't the only one on the court who put on a show.

Smith, who played on Iverson's Red team, also did his thing out on the court, finishing off some alley-oop dunks in a most impressive manner.

Iverson and Smith where the biggest names on the court, but the other players didn't just stand around watching.

Antawn Smith, the CIAA Player of the Year as a junior for St. Paul's College this season and former Ferguson High standout, showed that players from Division II schools got game too.

Smith threw down several vicious dunks and blocked a shot from what appeared to be the roof of the Convocation Center in the first quarter.

And then there were the women. Saudia Roundtree from the ABL's Atlanta Glory and La'Keisha Frett from the Philadelphia Rage more than represented their respective teams and women's basketball in general.

The stars just weren't on the court either. Among the more than 3,000 people in attendance for the game was boxer Pernell Whitaker, Bruce Smith from the Buffalo Bills and Charles Oakley from the New York - oops - Toronto Raptors.

All in all, everyone enjoyed the game and more importantly the game helped raise money for some worthy causes.

``I think it turned out great,'' Iverson said. ``I want to thank everyone who came out to see us and most importantly the guys that I was playing with out there.